FOUR Reasons to take your Workout Clothes with you on Vacation

WHY TRAIN WHEN YOU TRAVEL/HAVE GUESTS?Despite *Fill in the Blank* Magazine's best efforts of motivating you to exercise while on vacation for the purpose of "burning off" whatever "bad" food you've eaten, away-from-home training actually has real benefits (4real!). Let's list some:

1. Time Away. For me, vacations are often trips to grandma & grandpa's house, which includes copious time spent "visiting." (Disclaimer; I enjoy visiting, Moms and Dads! But --) Introverts, carve out some solo time through exercise. So far, "I'm going for a run" has never been answered with, "can I come too!?"

2. Game Face Advantage. When you return home from an exercise-less vactation and think about embarking on your first post-travel workout, what is the devil on your shoulder saying? If it's to the effect of, "I can't do it. It's gonna feel so awful," you may want to consider adding just a little bit of training to your trips. A simple travel rule I have is to work hard for at least 15 minutes every third day or less.

3. Better Sleep despite the strange bed/environment! Recent research says that exercise can benefit sleep in three ways: quicker to fall asleep, longer duration of sleep, and deeper sleep. Unfortunately these benefits can take weeks-to-months of regular exercise in order to kick in.

4. Stress reducing, mood boosting SUPERPOWERS! Exercise has the power to affect the same area of the brain that the most powerful antidepressant drugs are designed to stimulate!